April 16, 2009 is my date. I'm very excited!!! I'm more nervous about the pre-op diet then I am the actual surgery.

I'm also a little worried about my return to work, my boss is a very demanding (overbearing) guy - and he wants me to have my surgery and return to work in 4 days (2 work days and a weekend). My hubby said if he doesn't like it I should leave, but I don't want to quit my job during these hard economic times...at the same time I'm not giving up or re-scheduling my surgery!

welcome! i agree with your husband dont rush yourself back to work before you are ready. Good luck with your sugery and i look forward to getting to know you better.

Hey Abbie-pie, Glad you found us over here on this board! I am also scheduled for April 16th. I am a little worried about the pre-op diet too, but at this point I am ready to get on with it.

There is a great group here and I know you'll find lots of support.

Good for you, sticking with your plans on going ahead with the surgery...I hope you don't push yourself too much, even with such a demanding boss. Hopefully you will be one of those with a super fast recovery! Actually, I am wishing that for all of us bunnies!

Hey Abbie and Scooby, My surgery is also April 16th.

I am in Maryland, I see Scooby is in California..where are you located Abbie?

Also dont rush back to work, you want to make sure you are going to be comfortable enough to go back to work. I originally was planning to hopefully have my surgery on either a tue or wed and then go back the following Monday. But my surgeon only does them every other week on Thursdays. So for me that means out thur and fri and then the next week is National Medical Laboratory Professionals week and we will have lots of food and stuff at work so I took that whole week off too. I figured why torture myself by being around all that food and stuff while I am on a liquid diet

What type of pre-op diets do you guys have to follow? I was pleasantly suprised when i found out I would have to do a low calorie high protein diet. So it is like 2 shakes a day and 2 lean cuisne type meals and small amt of veggies and fruit. Well good luck to us all :eek:

I'm located in Texas, Dallas area. I'm actually going to Oklahoma for my surgery, my best friend had her's done by a wonderful doctor there, and a 3 hour drive is no biggie for the piece of mind of having a surgeon I trust.

There are MANY great docs in Texas, but for some reason this guy puts me at ease. I remember going to her pre-op appointments and I had an instant feeling of safety around him. He's just one of those types, comforting with excellent bedside manner. So for me it's worth the short drive.

My pre-op diet is 10 days. The first 7 are low-cal, low-carb (shakes, salad, chicken breast etc). The final 3 are high-Protein liquids only (and nothing red).

As far as rushing back to work, I don't want to do that either. I wish I could have a full week off....actually, I wish I could find another job. I'm hoping after my surgery when I lose some weight I'll have the confidence in myself to tell this guy to "stick-it" and go find a job where I can be happy.

Wow, we three sure are spread out. Now we just need someone up north and we will have all four points of the US covered..LOL

It is good to go to a surgeon that you trust. I personally work at the hospital where I will be having my surgery. I have never had my doc do any surgery on me before but I have met with him several times and am comfortable with him. I hear he is a great surgeon and a bit of a perfectionist, so I guess that is good. And his wife is the person in the office who sets up and handles everyones appointments and gets insurance approvals and she is really nice too.

I did find out that my doc requires an overnight stay too. I had gone into this thinking it would be outpatient then got a suprise at our last support group meeting. But that is ok as long as everything goes Ok I dont mind staying overnight.

As for your job, hopefully with this surgery it will give you that confidance to tell him to kiss your butt :eek:. I know that I am hoping I will be less self conscious about my weight to go out and do more things too.

Good Luck

Hey Jen and Abbie, SO cool that we all have the same date. I am a little worried that you two are already on your pre-op diets and I am not even scheduled to have my preop visit until the 31st!! I think I will copy Jen's diet since it woulds pretty good--at least until I get my preop instructions from my doctor. I think any amount of dieting beforehand can only help.

Jen, can you tell me more about what you are eating so I can be a copycat??lol I got some protien shakes (30 g ) at Costco and will start them tomorrow. I will get some Lean Quisines today. Anything else you can add? Thanks.

I am not looking forward to staying overnight at the hospital, only because my son will wonder where I am, but I know he will survive. Probably will be best since I will actually get rest in the hospital that I wouldn't get otherwise.

Abby, I bet after your surgery you are going to be able to find another job really easily. No one should have to work with a demanding and overbearing boss. I have had one of those in the past at the medical center I worked at and he was terrible. I dreaded going to work just because I never knew what mood he was going to be in that day. No one needs that kind of stress!!

Jen, I think it was so smart of you to take that extra week off since you were able to. Who needs all that temptation when you will be on liquids. The great thing is, I have heard you are not very hungry the first two weeks after the surgery. That should help too.

Talk to you guys soon!

Oh my god, I am so jealous of your pre-op diets!!!! Do not worry one bit about them! I am drinking 3-4 Optifast chocolate Protein shakes per day (200ml of Water + the powder) 176calories each and 1 cup of steamed vegetables. No milk, no sugar, no diet drinks, no meat, no carbs. Nothing but the shakes and the veges! I would actually saw my right leg off for a lean cuisine! haha. To be fair, its day 5 of 14 today - and I have only had 1.5 shakes so far (2pm here) and I am not hungry. Yesterday was ravenous as were the three preceeding!

My doc puts us on them to shrink the liver as much as possible as you have to lift it during the surgery and there is less risk of it rupturing if it is smaller and less full of fat (as it invariably is in us fatties!) but it has had a surpising effect on me - and how I think about food. I look forward to a cup of veges at night like you wouldn't believe, and I also realise that I can survive if I don't eat exactly what I want - and that the urge isn't so overwhelming. A lot of the anxiety over what the band will be like and the small portions and limitations has gone - because if I can do this pre-op without the band, I can do the band baby!!!:crying:

Wow, we three sure are spread out. Now we just need someone up north and we will have all four points of the US covered..LOL :crying:

It is good to go to a surgeon that you trust. I personally work at the hospital where I will be having my surgery. I have never had my doc do any surgery on me before but I have met with him several times and am comfortable with him. I hear he is a great surgeon and a bit of a perfectionist, so I guess that is good. And his wife is the person in the office who sets up and handles everyones appointments and gets insurance approvals and she is really nice too.

I did find out that my doc requires an overnight stay too. I had gone into this thinking it would be outpatient then got a suprise at our last support group meeting. But that is ok as long as everything goes Ok I dont mind staying overnight.

As for your job, hopefully with this surgery it will give you that confidance to tell him to kiss your butt :laugh:. I know that I am hoping I will be less self conscious about my weight to go out and do more things too.

Good Luck

Well, I thought I would chime in from the northern-Midwest. I am on day 5 of my pre-op liquid diet. And so far so good. I feel much more energy today than I did the first few days, so I must be adjusting. 10 days until my surgery on April 1st! Yippee! I am anxious, excited and thankful that I was able to schedule my sugery so that I can have 12 days to recover before going back to work. I hear everything from 4 days to 2 weeks for recovery, so I am especially grateful for the time.

I wholeheartedly recommend that each of us bunnies takes the time we need to get strong enough to go back to work. I completely understand the issue of difficult bosses, so if you have someone in HR or someone else to speak with (before surgery) that could be useful, in case you discover you need more time.

I am thrilled to have found the "Bunny Banders" so quickly! We're all in this together my dear bunny pals!

Hey Jen and Abbie, SO cool that we all have the same date. I am a little worried that you two are already on your pre-op diets and I am not even scheduled to have my preop visit until the 31st!! I think I will copy Jen's diet since it woulds pretty good--at least until I get my preop instructions from my doctor. I think any amount of dieting beforehand can only help.

Jen, can you tell me more about what you are eating so I can be a copycat??lol I got some protien shakes (30 g ) at costco and will start them tomorrow. I will get some Lean Quisines today. Anything else you can add? Thanks.

Scooby,

Sorry for the confusion but I have not started my pre-op diet yet. I will start that Next Thrusday on April 2nd. But i was just so suprised that it was not going to be a completely liquid diet that I just had to share . Dont worry your doc should give you the guidelines he wants you to follow but I can share more info on mine. My diet should be 800-1000 calories with 60-100 grams of Protein per day. I can have 2 healthy frozen meals or something similar about 200-250 calories each. 2 Protein Shakes per day consisting of 1 cup skim milk with 1 scoop of Protein powder each (totalling no more 400 calories between the 2 shakes), 1/2 cup fruit perday about 60 calories and 1 cup veggies per day totalling about 50 calories. Of course 8 cups of Water and all the free foods i want. Such as crystal light, broth, diet V8 splash, sugar free Jello, sugar free popsicles, things of that nature. I hope that helps

Jen

Hey, Jen...

Thank you for the update and the diet particulars. I am happy to hear that you haven't started yet, since we have the same date!! I was worried I was missing something!lol

My appointment is next Tuesday.

Keep in touch so we can compare notes!:cursing: